Do I have to have a rooster?

[McChooky]

Are you spending time or not spending time with them?

You will know when they start to mature - starting to protect their flock....etc. Roosters are adorable when they are young.

I check for signs of predators (paw prints, digging,etc)when I let them out and do most of my chicken chores midday.I like watching them so I have a chair out there but I don't spend a lot of time with them. The better the hens like me the less the roosters want me hanging around

 

[Chickenclaude]

I’ve got 6 plus a rooster…his mating ritual has been brutal…bloody heads and backs..I went out to ck what the squawking was about and he had my old gal cornered and was beating the shit out of her. .. that was it. I just left him outside…had tried to rehome him but no one else wants a brutal boy. Nature took care of him.